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What is Tinnitus, and how can it be reduced?

Medical professionals describe tinnitus as a ringing in ears in one or both ears despite any external sound. The sound can be like roaring, hissing, buzzing, or clicking. The sound can vary as it can be soft, loud, high-pitched, or low-pitched. Some people tend to have severe tinnitus issues, which may result in problems in working, hearing, or sleeping. It has been researched that it is not a disease but is a symptom or a sign that there is something wrong with the auditory system of a person. The auditory system includes ear, the auditory nerve that connects the ear to the brain, and other parts of the brain that develop sound.

Tinnitus can be temporary or permanent, gradual or instant, mild or severe. It has been found that there is no cure for it, and the main goal of treatment of tinnitus is to help a person to manage the perception of sound in their head. You can know more about tinnitus on Discover Magazine. There are many remedies that can help in reducing the tinnitus, which is as follows:

  • Sound-masking devices

Sound-masking devices are known to provide a benign or pleasant external noise that drowns the internal sound of tinnitus partially. The sound-masking device is a tabletop sound machine, but some small electronic devices can fit in the ear. These devices can produce pink noise, white noise, music, nature noises, and more. Some people prefer listening to an external sound louder than the sound of tinnitus, while some prefer to wear sound-masking devices that drown out the sound. 

  • Hearing aids

Most people tend to develop tinnitus as an indication of hearing loss. The brain undergoes some changes in the approach; it processes sound frequencies when a person loses hearing. Hearing aids are the electronic devices that use amplifiers, microphones, or speakers to boost up the sound of external noises. A hearing aid can mollify the neuroplastic changes that occur in the brain that produces sound. 

  • Behavioral therapy

It has been found that tinnitus is related to sophisticated emotional stress. It includes anxiety, depression, and insomnia, which are common in people these days with tinnitus. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a type of therapy talk that helps people to learn how to live their life with this condition. Instead of teaching how to reduce the sound, the CBT method is used to teach how to live with it. The main goal of this therapy is to improve the quality of life of people with tinnitus. CBT involves meetings with a therapist once a week to identify the impact and change of thoughts.

Tinnitus is quite a frustrating condition, and there is no cure for it. Rather than getting worried about it, there are several ways to improve the quality of life with mindfulness meditation and Cognitive behavioral therapy. These are the promising treatment options that will divert your mind from worrying about tinnitus and accepting it and living a good life with it.

Jaime London is a writer, contributor, editor and a photographer. He started his career as an editorial assistant in a publishing company in Chicago in 2009.